PDP owns Kwara, Jonathan insists

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday insisted that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) owns Kwara State. He said the party will win the governorship election in 2015.

Jonathan said that the PDP will test its might in the state by winning any elective positions in the state between now and 2015 general election.

The President spoke in Abuja when Hajiya Bola Shagaya led members of the Kwara PDP to the Presidential Villa to thank him for his role in the PDP rally held in Ilorin.

Jonathan said: “We remain very grateful and from what we saw that day, I do not think we need a soothsayer to say that Kwara is totally for the PDP. Kwara is totally for PDP.

“Just like the Principal Secretary said, the taste of the pudding is in the eating. In 2015, we will know who owns Kwara. And if God gives us the opportunity, we will even test our strength before 2015.

“All stolen mandates will return to PDP. And those who think that they can run away with our mandates should think twice. As a member of the Assembly who refused to defect, you will have nothing to regret. Just celebrate it.

“If they think that PDP will allow them to run away with it, they will see it. So let us continue to encourage you and we will continue to work together with your leaders, supporters. Not only will we win the election at the national level, we will also win at the state level.”

Continuing, he added: “We must take over the state structures of the party, we must take all, because it is easy to reach the grassroots through the states than the centre.

“So any state we are unable to win, party members in that state will continue to live like orphans. So definitely, we are taking Kwara. So I am quite pleased with what you have done today.”

The President went on: “Let me join others to express our appreciation for the reception you gave to us when we came for the rally. The rally in Kwara was even thicker than some zonal rallies.

“It was like that because the government had wanted to distract the attention of the citizens. They arranged some programmes even within the Ilorin and those programmes failed. These things do not happen by chance because men and women who are here worked very hard to get to that level.

Speaking on behalf of the group, a party elder, Laziz Jimoh, promised that the state will back Jonathan in 2015.

He told the President that without a sitting PDP governor, they remain orphans.

Among the delegations were Senators Simeon Ajibola, Gbemi Saraki, Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Suleiman Ajadi and Special Adviser to the President on Ethics, Sarah Jibrin.